New Protections for Nannies Are Approved by Council

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

Published: May 15, 2003

The City Council unanimously approved a bill yesterday that increases protections for nannies and housekeepers by seeking to make sure that families who hire them know these workers' rights on overtime and other matters.

The bill, which passed 49 to 0, requires employment agencies to inform domestic workers in writing of their rights and to get families that hire them to sign statements outlining the employee's rights and the employer's responsibilities.

''This is great,'' said Erline Brown, who has worked as a nanny for 18 years. ''It's not going to help only the nannies, but also the employers, because it brings clarity. There won't be so many misunderstandings.''

Advocates for domestic workers said the bill should help stop the many abuses faced by these workers. Many domestic workers complain about being paid for 40 hours' work when they work 50- or 60-hour weeks. Some also complain about having to work seven days in a row, about not being given any paid vacation and about not having private rooms when they are live-ins.

''The Council has heard numerous horror stories from domestic workers,'' Council Speaker Gifford Miller said. ''It is our hope that this bill will help put a stop to these practices.''

Under the bill, employers who hire nannies, housekeepers, companions or caregivers for the elderly through employment agencies would be required from now on to sign statements saying they know about minimum wage, overtime and Social Security requirements. Under current law, these workers are to receive overtime after 40 hours a week, unless they are live-ins, who are entitled to time-and-a-half overtime pay after 44 hours. The federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour covers all domestic workers.

Ai-Jen Poo, an organizer with Domestic Workers United, the main lobbying group for the bill, said it was the most far-reaching legislation in the nation to help domestic workers. She estimated that there were 200,000 domestic workers in New York City and 600,000 in the greater metropolitan area, many of them immigrants and some illegal immigrants.

The Council also approved a resolution yesterday that urged employers to abide by a set of guidelines pushed by Domestic Workers United. That group recommends that families agree to give nannies and other domestic workers five sick days a year, five personal days and two weeks' paid vacation. The group also recommends that domestic workers and employers give one-month notice of dismissal or leaving.

''This is just the beginning,'' Ms. Poo said. ''Next we're going to seek to get the State Legislature to vote to improve standards for domestic workers.'' With City Hall officials voicing support, she said she expected Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to sign the bill later this month.

The bill was backed by many labor groups as well as groups advocating for Asian, Hispanic and Haitian workers.

''Domestic workers throughout our city enjoy few of the protections in their workplaces that most of us take for granted,'' said Councilwoman Gale A. Brewer, a Manhattan Democrat who was the bill's chief sponsor.

Under the bill, employment agencies that violate the law, by, for example, not getting employers to sign a statement of responsibilities, would be subject to a fine of up to $1,000 or imprisonment of up to one year.

Clifford Greenhouse, co-owner of the Pavilion Agency, criticized the legislation, saying it would do little for domestic workers because only a small percentage of them are placed by employment agencies.

''The licensed agencies are placing people in positions that far exceed the legal standards, even double or triple,'' he said. ''This legislation is asking the agencies to police the very people that are paying our fees. They're also asking families to commit to very rigid job specifications which change almost daily in a private home.''